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Pac'N Roll

You'd think after 25 years of Pac-Man goodness we'd have grown tired of the little ghost hunting pellet muncher, yet Namco continues to keep the license alive by releasing a slew of new titles every year across various platforms. Pac-Man takes his latest roll in Pac ‘n Roll, his second appearance on the Nintendo DS thus far, following the release of Pac-Pix earlier this year. Pac-Pix had proven itself to be both innovating to the gaming world and fun in its own pick-up-and-play kind of way, pushing the unique touch screen capabilities. Likewise, Pac ‘n Roll continues to advance the franchise to with new innovations and more fun to be had.

The story follows Pac-Man in his younger years as he trained at the home of the Pac-Master, a legendary ghost hunter. During this time the infamous foursome, Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde, were up to their mischievous ways, plotting against the entire Pac-People community. With their powers they resurrected a long lost ghost named Golvis, a rocked out ghost determined to follow out the plans of his four partners. With his strength and power he kidnapped Pac-Master and his family and transformed all the Pac-People into spheres, including Pac-Man. Then straight out of the blue, a fairy named Krystal decides to guide Pac-Man on a quest to bring down Golvis, and so the adventure begins.

With Pac-Man at a loss of limbs, you'll have to roll him with the use of the stylus to maneuver around each world. The touch screen displays a 3D image of a rolling Pac-Man that shows which direction you're moving, responding to each touch of the stylus. It's also home to some what would otherwise be cluttered on-screen displays, such as pellets collected and lives remaining. The top screen is all action, and that's where you'll follow Pac-Man around the environment.

Even though Pac-Man originally started off as a simple arcade game, it has branched off to a series of genres including sports, party, and (most commonly) platforming titles. Pac ‘n Roll takes the latter in a platforming adventure hybrid that has Pac-Man rolling around hills tops, clouds and even castles gathering up pellets and rare gems, as well as attacking ghosts. The game play is actually very similar to the hit series Super Monkey Ball, although instead of relying on precision and perfection, you'll be placed in a much more open environment which you can explore at ease.

In total there are seven independent worlds, which themselves contain about three to six levels each (aside from world six, which only contains one). Every level holds three game modes – Story, Time Trial, and Challenge, and beating these different game modes helps you earn gems. These valuable stones are scattered throughout the worlds waiting to be collected, but you can also earn them by completing certain tasks. In total there are 128 gems in all, and even though they aren't required to collect it's the only way to beat the game completely.

The Story aspect is the generic "get to the end of the level" routine. Roll around and get every pellet in the level, pick up a gem on your way to the next stage. Then there's the Time Trial, which is fairly self-explanatory. Unlike some games, however, these times are incredibly hard to beat. The first level alone took me a few tries to accomplish, and even a successful run is only a second or two under the target time. It can all be extremely frustrating (especially on the later levels), because you literally have to make the perfect run at top speed and precise control, but if you do manage to stick with it and take the number one spot, you'll be awarded a gem. Lastly there's the Challenge mode, which requires you to do various tasks such as eating a certain amount of ghosts in a set time, or not eating a single pellet in a level. The word "challenge" is not used loosely; as you progress through the game you'll come across some maddeningly ridiculous tasks (for those already playing, have fun with challenge 5-3!).

As you adventure through each world you'll be introduced to a few power-ups that will help you make your way to new heights, and even new lows. You'll be able to pick up the armor power up that will shield Pac-Man with a heavy suit of metal, and while it does slow him down immensely, you'll also be able to explore the depths of bodies of water, as well as reflect small environmental attacks. The other power-up is a feather that drastically reduces Pac-Man's weight. With it you'll be able to fly off of ramps and float for a small amount of time, which will allow you to land on otherwise out of reach cliffs.

Pac'N Roll's graphics are tip top, almost on par with Super Mario 64 DS. This game is just another example that the DS is more then capable of displaying amazing 3D graphics. The control is stellar, and the only thing you might have to be wary of is hand cramps, since the DS for some reason or another doesn't seem to have been designed to be held with only one hand. But since everything is used with the stylus, that's how it's got to be. Playing for more then an hour can be a pain, and I can say in pride that this is the second game in my video game career that's given my a blister (the other being the original Mario Party – damn those were painful) due to the tip of the stylus digging into my index finger. I had to take periodic brakes, but coming from such a great game, it's one setback I can ignore.

This game gets an N-Philes score of A-.

I'm really disappointed that Namco took the bold step to release this at the same time as Advance Wars: Dual Strike and Nintendogs, because this game is already being overlooked, and coming from a gamer who's not much of a fan of either of those, Pac ‘N Roll was a huge sigh of relief for the month of August. This is one of the most addictive games I've played in recent years; everything about it just a barrel of fun (it even comes packed with a full version of the original Pac-Man!) and there isn't much to complain about. Overall this is now my favorite DS game on the market. If you like a challenging, trial-and-error type platformer, you can't go wrong with Pac'N Roll. So get out there and start rolling.

Posted in: Reviews